Thursday, July 21, 2011

It's contagious

Borderprintedness, that is.  Carolyn's got a really bad case of it . . . but she's also got more of the cure on her shelves than I do.

I'm down to one remaining border print now, because this weekend I used up the second of the three I recently purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics

I tend not to wear yellow as it's a pretty unflattering color on me, but when I saw this yellow, gold and orange floral border print, I couldn't resist.  It reminded me (in a good way) of printed vintage sheets, but without the allover design.  I knew it was meant to be a dress, and I knew the border had to be at the bottom, even though I do like some of the print-at-the-top dressess I've seen.  No yellow flowers near the face, please.

This wasn't made from any particular pattern - the bodice was copied from an old blouse that I took apart years ago and tinkered with until I liked the fit.  Looking at the photos now, I think I need to do an FBA on this TNT, because things aren't where I left them when I drafted that pattern!  Close enough, with the right bra, but a little bit of fiberfill might cause an incident.

The skirt was just the entire 2 yard width of the fabric, cut with 2" to spare for hem and waist seam allowance.  I marked the center back, fronts and side seams, pinned those points, and gathered in between.  The bodice was underlined with white batiste because this fabric was much more sheer than I thought when I originally cut it out.  The skirt was lined with white lining fabric (because I'm starting to run low on batiste).  Because the bodice was underlined, I bound the armholes for a neater finish.

The collar used the last fragments of the border that floated toward the top of the print.  I know, I said no yellow near the face, but it was just random petals at that point.

They're not too visible in the photos here, but partway through the day my new ice-blue Fluevog shoes arrived in the mail and I ditched my brown shoes in favor of them. (These were the shoes I wanted for the wedding, so they're only 6 months late, but they were also half price and they weren't in January.  I'm a shoe whore, but I'm a frugal one).  The shoes will have proper photos taken soon.  They're so pretty, they deserve their own post.

7 comments:

Sharon Sews said...

This is lovely! I also am attracted to yellow but can't put it near my face. I like your solution for the yellow border and the skirt portion really showcases that beautiful fabric.

P.S. I'd ditch brown shoes for those blue shoes too. The color is fabulous.

Journeyin' Lady... said...

I like your sewing projects and also like the way you write about them and I also LOVE shoes! Enjoyed your Blog as usual.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Karen - that is an awesome dress! I love how you featured the border print but how it still looks like you! Great job! Oh and tell Andrea she did a great job with the pictures. :)

Eugenia said...

Lovely dress! The border print is so pretty - it works really well with this style. Great job!

Jane said...

Lovely dress, great print and looks good on you. Love the blue shoes.

meli88a said...

What a great placement for that border print. Very cute!

Irene said...

That's a very pretty dress! Love the shoes, too!